Oregon City Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Zalar said there is a funding crisis in the public school system.

“School funding is a state-wide problem. It’s in a crisis situation. We’ve been in this crisis for 20 years now. And nothing seems to be getting done about it,” said Zalar, who spoke at a town hall meeting on April 20 at Starr Elementary School. The meeting was sponsored by Matt Szollosi, state representative from the 49th House District in Ohio.

“School funding is supposed to be a shared partnership,” said Zalar. “The system was set up that way from the get-go. The state and local communities are supposed to work together to produce the funds and revenues to provide free and high quality schools for public education.”

Health Dept. warns of fraudulent inspectors According to the Ohio Department of Health, food service operations have been contacted by persons asking to schedule an inspection of the businesses and requesting personal information over the phone.

The callers claim to be health inspectors and law enforcement officials believe it may be an attempt to extort money from the businesses as well as allowing the scammers a chance to establish fake identities on websites to fraudulently sell goods and services online.

The Oregon City Schools district will lose millions in the next two years, according to Oregon City Schools Treasurer Jane Fruth, who provided financial information at a town hall meeting at Starr Elementary School on April 20.

The figures she provided were from the Office of Management and Budget that were incorporated into the Oregon City Schools District.

“This is the best we have right now. Obviously, these will change. We hope they will change for the better,” said Fruth.

Plans for additional spending cuts have been put in place if an emergency levy on the May 3 ballot in the Woodmore School District should fail.

The Woodmore school board last week approved the list of cuts, which includes eliminating busing for student field trips, eliminating up to four teaching positions at the high school, and aligning the elementary school so that there are a maximum of three classrooms per grade level, said John Fernbaugh, district superintendent.

Establishing the three-classroom maximum at the elementary school would result in “significantly” larger class sizes, he said.